A LinkedIn post from Friday Harbor highlights survey findings from National Mortgage News indicating that 57% of respondents expect AI-backed underwriting to drive the largest industry transformation by 2026. The post suggests a growing consensus that underwriting will be a primary area where AI capabilities are tested and deployed in the mortgage process.
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The company’s CEO, Theo Ellis, is quoted in the referenced article as advocating for placing AI capabilities closer to origination teams to support more confident preapprovals. According to the post, this approach could allow underwriters to concentrate on higher-level risk management decisions rather than front-end evaluation tasks.
For investors, the commentary points to Friday Harbor’s focus on AI-driven underwriting workflows as a potential differentiator within mortgage technology. If the market moves in line with the cited survey expectations, companies positioned around AI-enhanced origination and underwriting could benefit from increased demand and potential efficiency-driven margin improvement.
The emphasis on shifting some decisioning power to originating teams may also indicate a broader industry trend toward streamlining loan approval timelines and improving borrower experience. This could strengthen the competitive position of technology providers that enable compliant, risk-aware automation while preserving underwriters’ oversight role.
More broadly, the post underscores the strategic importance of AI in core credit decisioning rather than just peripheral automation. For Friday Harbor, alignment with this direction may shape product roadmaps, partnership opportunities, and capital allocation priorities as the mortgage sector evaluates AI’s impact on risk, throughput, and cost structures through 2026 and beyond.